http://favoritegoodcause.com don't wait, do something extraordinary Tue, 13 May 2008 03:35:57 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In the budgeting post I said that there were a few important things I would come back to later. So here we are! Variance analysis Annual expenses Seasonal variation SURPRISES! These are the items that will lay all your good efforts to waste if they aren't controlled. So to recap, you made a list of the ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/05/budgets-the-finer-points/ Well dear friends, I'm seeing some traffic on this site. I'm not sure where it's coming from, but I thank you for being here. The blog is new, but the long gap between posts was while I was away at a conference presenting my research project. Still trying to cure ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/05/months-of-reckoning/  I told you about my plan to attend the Citi annual shareholders meeting, last Tuesday here in New York. It was all the spectacle I hoped it would be and more. I have to say, until two days ago I never, ever imagined myself attending one of these meetings. It just had never crossed my ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/05/worth-the-price-of-admission-2/ I have to say, I'm really sort of amused, in a serious kind of way. Here's the deal. I've been playing with my little itty bitty investment portfolio for about six years now. It's done great actually. It would have done so much better if I hadn't raided the Apple ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/04/a-subversive-in-shareholders-clothing/ Last week's project was to track any and all fees that you've paid in the last month. What did you come up with? I am officially at war. Now, I was expecting a spike this month, due to my aforementioned bizarre and inhumane pay schedule, and this more or ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/04/fees/ Where to begin? Everything is connected. If you're reading these posts and trying to solve a problem, I would bet that you probably get to the end of a post on, say, budgeting, or cash flow, saying BUT that's all great but I can't do THIS because I can't change THAT, whatever ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/04/the-tangled-web-we-weave/ I look at cash flow from two sides. The long term tells me where I'm going--am I eventually going to build any wealth, or am I continually digging a deeper and deeper pit? The short term has to do with crisis management. I think of it as two separate but ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/04/cash-flow/ The problem I've had with managing my money is that in the short term, things often seem very futile. This mainly comes from the fact that I am in graduate school and my stipend in very inadequate. I've had a constant conversation with myself about opportunity costs and whether it's ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/04/searching-for-the-tipping-point/ My grandmother was a tough, smart, obstinate woman who raised five children. She could organize the heck out of anything you put in front of her. She spoke her mind, usually whether you wanted to hear it or not. I had no idea, when she was still alive, how accomplished ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/04/my-grandmother/ This is such a fundamental tool that it has always surprised me how seldom the basics are taught. Let's work out a monthly budget. Here are the basics... A budget has two sides: income and expenses. The first thing to do is figure out how much income you have in a month. ... http://favoritegoodcause.com/2008/04/how-to-work-a-budget/